GAINESVILLE, Fla.—The five-foot projection screen stands in front of the oak desk in Will Muschamp’s office, a microcosm of where the Florida program is headed.

Forget everything else. Focus on what’s in front of you.

Whether it’s game tape, practice tape or grainy film of high school players, the reality is the Gators only get better—only return to the elite of college football—by competing on the field and in recruiting.

“We’re in transition,” Muschamp says. “Are we headed in the right direction? I emphatically think we are.”

Florida’s second-year coach recently wrapped up a top five recruiting class, and the team begins spring practice Wednesday with a new offensive coordinator (former Boise State OC Brent Pease) and questions at the most important position on the field.

Muschamp sat down with Sporting News’ Matt Hayes last month to talk about last year’s “disastrous” 7-6 season, the excitement of recruiting and the state of the program—and where it’s headed.

MUSCHAMP: An 11. I’m more excited now than the day I was hired. We’re not building a team, we’re building a program. We recruited well last year, and we’re recruiting well again this year. We’re building our roster back as far as the line of scrimmage. This is a line of scrimmage league. If you don’t have quality depth, you’re going to struggle.

SN: You were at 66 scholarship players at one point last fall. How could a program like Florida get to the point where it is nearly 20 scholarships from the NCAA minimum?

MUSCHAMP: We were short on numbers to begin with, and there have been 12 guys who left the program since we took over. We signed 19 players (in 2011), and instead of going out and signing guys just to sign the maximum, we banked them and said we’ll take it in the shorts this year. In the SEC, recruiting is different than anywhere else in the country. If you’re not on for one year, you’ve got no chance.

SN: Is it fair to say six losses is a disastrous season?

MUSCHAMP: Disappointing, disastrous, whatever adjective you want to throw on it. There are Gator fans that could probably think of some worse ones. People want to look at our year and say you were 7-6? Really, let’s look at the last two years: we’re a 15-11 team. Let’s be realistic here. Urban Meyer is a heckuva football coach; he won two national championships here. But there was a one-game difference from this year to (his) last year. We’re in transition. Are we headed in the right direction? I emphatically think we are.

SN: How can a program like Florida have only two players invited to the NFL Combine?

MUSCHAMP: I don’t have a good answer. It is what it is. A lot of times you find out what kind of football team you had in April when they have the (NFL) draft.

SN: Is it fair to say that’s a good indicator of what you walked into, what you were left by the previous staff?

MUSCHAMP: It is what it is.

SN: Florida didn’t have an All-SEC selection for the first time since 1971. Is it fair to say that’s a good indicator of what you walked into?

MUSCHAMP: The numbers speak for themselves. I always look at the difference between reality and perception. Sometimes perception isn’t always what reality is.

SN: You had a top five recruiting class. How far can that go in strengthening deficiencies?

MUSCHAMP: First, a lot of those players could’ve gone anywhere they wanted to, and they decided to go to Florida. So that’s a good thing. We signed 14 guys on the line of scrimmage. That’s where we needed to build our numbers back.

When we recruit, we identify what we want at specific positions right down to physical attributes and character. As an example, to me, you need 18 guys on scholarship on the offensive line. It’s a developmental position and the highest injury-related position. You try to have a specific number so you don’t get caught off guard. We had 12 scholarship players on the offensive line last year.

SN: Your best day at Florida in the last 14 months?

MUSCHAMP: Signing Day this year—Signing Day and the bowl game. They’re together. You springboard into offseason with some momentum, and then we had a great year recruiting.

SN: Could you sense fans wanted that Gator Bowl game against Ohio State more than usual?

MUSCHAMP: I’m sure most Gator fans were happy we won. If that happened to be incentive, sure, I suppose it could have been.

SN: Your worst day at Florida in the last 14 months?

MUSCHAMP: I can think of six of them.

SN: Those six losses already have some wondering about the direction of the program. Is that fair, considering what you walked into?

MUSCHAMP: At the end of the day, patience is a bad word. I don’t use the word patience; I use the word realistic. Sometimes you have to be realistic to figure some things out.

SN: You hired Brent Pease as offensive coordinator, and his offenses at Boise State were balanced and wide open. Will you stray from your power-run philosophy?

MUSCHAMP: I want to be multiple on both sides of the ball. You can’t be one-dimensional in this league and win consistently. There comes a time whether it’s in the red zone, or at the end of the game, and you have to be able to run it. Go back and look at (former Florida) Coach (Steve) Spurrier and the success he had here. He was a 50-50 run-pass guy, even though he had the reputation as a pass-happy guy.

To me, running the football creates toughness in your program. It creates toughness on offense and toughness on defense. We weren’t a mentally tough team last year. I told our players, at times, we were soft. I don’t mean just physically, I mean mentally, too. Whether it’s handling adversity, going on the road or making a play in a critical situation. We have to coach better and they have to play better.

SN: How hard is it for you to admit you were a soft team?

MUSCHAMP: It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever said. But you go back and look at it, and we didn’t consistently stop the run and we weren’t able to run the ball. You can attribute it to multiple factors. We’ve tried to address that with our strength program, recruiting and overall numbers at multiple positions.

SN: You have two sophomore quarterbacks—Jeff Driskel and Jacoby Brissett—competing for the starting job. Could it be a situation this fall where you play both?

MUSCHAMP: Yeah. I’m going to do what it takes to win. I’ll play five. We need to do what we’ve got to do to win games. I would prefer one. At the end of the day, we’ll sit down after spring practice, and if we have to take the competition into fall camp, we will.